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A Perfect Day Movie Review

by Christian St John  
12/29/2008 / Entertainment

Christmas time, a time for family and friends, spending too much on presents that people don't really need, listening to carols and classic Christmas tunes, eating too much, and of course, celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus.

I would have to say that one of my favorite parts of Christmas is watching all those cheesy made-for-TV movies. Every year television companies produce a handful of Christmas movies in the hopes of pulling in some high ratings over the festive time. And every year I, like many others, try and catch as many as I can. To be honest some of the better movies I have seen have been made-for-TV Christmas movies; The Christmas Shoes starring Rob Lowe, Silent Night starring Linda Hamilton, The Man Who Saved Christmas starring Jason Alexander, A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart, and now A Perfect Day.

I didn't catch A Perfect Day on TV; I bought it on DVD and was pleasantly surprised after watching it. Looking at the cover images and reading the synopsis I expected a movie filled with clich after clich. Instead, the movie was very thought provoking, and an added bonus was that the movie was somewhat pro-faith.

Starring Rob (The Christmas Shoes) Lowe and Christopher (Back to the Future) Lloyd, A Perfect Day didn't have a particularly original plot, but the treatment of the story was quite ingenious and I was pleasantly surprised by the acting throughout.

Robert Harlan (Rob Lowe) is fired at the beginning of the story by a man who says, much in the manner of Scrooge, "Its only business." In fact, the theme of "its only business" is repeated throughout the movie, very effectively. Allyson (Paget Brewster), Harlan's wife, is completely supportive of him and encourages him to write a book. We discover that he has already begun this book, but has little confidence in his ability to do anything with it. With her support however, he completes the book and is soon contacted by Camile (Frances Conroy), a literary agent who gives him his first big break, soon catapulting him to unexpected and incredible success.

This is where the story really takes off. At first it's a dream come true for Robert, his book becomes the #1 book in America, his book signings are packed with fans, there's talk of a movie version, and he gets guest spots on TV talk shows including Larry King. But all too soon this dream becomes a nightmare in the making. Robert lets the success get to him and he begins to push everyone away, including his wife, daughter, and agent, who throughout the story becomes a good friend to the family. Instead he begins to believe the lie that he needs to grab everything he can, while he can, and that this will bring happiness.

This is when he meets Michael played by Christopher Lloyd, a mysterious stranger with an ominous message; Harlan only has until Christmas Day to live. I must admit, I thought the movie was going to be a straight forward story of "little boy lost," but adding a little dark mystery into the mix definitely helped move things along.

While many events in this movie are fully predictable - it is soon clear that Harlan's life is becoming increasingly unhappy as he becomes more and more successful - there are some major plot twists that will leave many viewers quite surprised at the end and perhaps even eager to see the movie again.

What I liked about A Perfect Day is that there were quite a few pro-faith moments; in a conversation between Robert and Michael praying and having faith are mentioned, Roberts daughter is seen praying, and a street person is heard quoting from the book of Revelation. Other issues that pop up are morality, integrity, honesty, and love.

It's hard not to compare A Perfect Day to The Christmas Shoes, not because they both star Rob Lowe, but because they both have stories in which the main character is blinded by ambition and needs to see the error of their ways before it's too late.

All in all this is a good movie. It's not quite an out and out Christmas movie, as much of the story is set throughout the preceding year, but the movie ends at Christmas with everything coming together in a Christmas church service. So in my books A Perfect Day is a Christmas movie, but it's also a good family movie as there is no violence, bad language, or sex, although adultery is suggested in two minor scenes.

Christian St John

I am a full time writer & preacher, and the founder, main contributor, & preacher for my website HardcoreFaith.com. I hold an M.Div degree. I have preached in churches, youth groups, prisons, & rehab centers in Canada and the UK. To use this article please email me & link article to my website.

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